Musings on a Life in the Theatre, Tablet PC's, Cultural Issues, (oh, and the occasional emu sighting...)

8 posts categorized "Books"

December 13, 2009

Randall Stross in the NY Timessays AT&T is taking it on the chin even for some of the network woes caused by the iPhone's design. So, a network that admits it has can't handle all the business it acquires by advertising it's so good, will take lumps rather than addressing the problem? Fake Steve Jobs does a great fake post reporting on a conversation with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson about the issues. Something tells me this isn't so fake. These guys are great bamboozlers and should be in politics. Probably would if it paid better.

Nokia is sinking and keeps making noise that it is only temporary. This line in this NY Times piece stands out. "Apple is made for the common man. It’s more for Joe Six-Pack than techno-geeks. But we understand Joe Six-Pack too." If they are depending on Joe Six-Pack, the sinking will continue. But then again the cool toys for geeks (otherwise known as Beta Hardware) can't continue at this pace.

December 03, 2009

Here we go again with another edition of the Life on the Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards, this time for year number 5. As I’ve said each year since year 2 of these awards there is no better description as to why they exist, or why I created them, than what I said the first year. So, here are those remarks, which I’ll revise and extend.

I created The Life On The Wicked Stage Ink Blot Awards as a celebration. Yes, it's a celebration of the 1 year anniversary of this blog. But it is more than that. It is a celebration of a community that I have come to know and admire. The Tableteers that make up the Tablet PC Community are an amazing collection of individuals who know and work with the Tablet PC platform. They are fiercely protective of it, insatiably curious about advancing it, very intelligent, often wickedly funny, at one time very forgiving and patient, and in the same breath, scathingly critical when the need arises. They are also exceedingly willing to evangelize the platform to anyone who will listen, and in my humble opinion, have helped keep the spotlight on The Tablet PC in ways that may, in the long run, prove to be responsible for keeping the platform thriving.

This will probably be the last year that I can repeat those words as that community and its passion that helped provide the inspiration is spinning off into all sorts of new directions. Even more so than last year. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a thing. Tablet PCs as we’ve known them from the past are very much a niche product, except when they are a rumor that occupies the world’s attention. Once again, anyone looking for anything new on the Tablet front has to pretend to be a Cubs fan and “wait until next year.” Last year this award appeared: The We’d Love to See It, Love to Buy It, But Don’t Think You’re Ever Going to Produce It Award: TechCrunch Tablet. A day or so before these awards appeared, Michael Arrington, the Father of the Crunchpad, declared it dead. Such are the times, such are the trials, and such are the tales of those who love Tablets.

2009 was the year that social media turned from the topic to the only topic. Twitter exploded. Facebook bought Friendfeed. And you can now use location services to locate, well just about anything or anybody. Except of course for those folks who don’t like to be social or locatable, but that’s another story. Mobile devices finally saw some real entries in various categories including MIDs, UMPCs, and of course Netbooks and Smartphones. The biggest difficulty is that the majority of entries in most categories look more like odd independent films trying to find distribution. Netbooks are still a dominate story, as is the iPhone. It was a year of comebacks (or at least attempts at a comeback) for some, (Microsoft, UMPCs, Motorola, and Palm), and failure for others. The last quarter of the year also saw open warfare breakout among some of the big guns (Google, Apple, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon). Amazon’s Kindle saw competitors start to spring up all around, although most won’t really hit the market until 2010 (Sony must hate the fact that they keep getting looked over). Touch became the big thing. So big that now everyone is wondering what to do with it. The usage case beyond the small screen just hasn’t been made.

November 08, 2009

Paul Carr at TechCrunch has some good analysis on real time (intriguingly without mentioning real time) news, social media, etc… in the wake of the Fort Hood tragedy. My view, real time is real chaos. But so is life.

I finally had time to actually read the book this week, after opening the second show of our season, The Gin Game, this past Sunday. Shame on me. I should have found some time in between shows to have read the book. It most likely would have saved me some soul searching and hair pulling as we worked to bring The Gin Game to life. But hindsight’s 20-20.

The New York Times looks at a few of the folks who made some cash by developing iPhone apps. No mention of the fart apps, though. Still, I’m guessing we’ll see a few more folks trying to cash in after this article.

August 30, 2008

Well here we are. Labor Day weekend in the US traditionally kicks off the Silly Season of the presidential campaign. It only gets sillier and wackier from here. For those who thought the primaries were silly, the next 66 days will probably make you turn off of politics all together (which in some quarters is both the design and the intent.)

Hypocrisy, hyperbole, and hyena-like howls of hooliganism will abound through the media and the blogosphere. When you hear or see what looks like righteous indignation over some slur/slander/slime, just know it is because those who are being indignant are only ticked off that they didn’t come up with the idea first. Anything goes and will go, and I’m guessing this fall will be uglier and funnier than most, even with, or because the stakes are so high.

So, now that Obama has the nod for the Dems, and the Repubs are debating whether to hold their convention this week or postpone it due to a hurricane, here is some of the funniest Silly Season craziness I’ve seen just this morning.

July 06, 2008

Either the McCain campaign polling data is showing them in more trouble than they’d like to admit, or they are having fun with misdirection. The main stream media is awash with stories about how McCain is looking for one big strategy to help him in the election. I find that strange because if it is true, it seems like they aren’t paying attention to how Obama is shooting himself in the foot lately. The strategy for either should be pretty simple to discern. Intriguing that they haven’t figured it out yet.

The New York Times has an interesting piece, Your Brain Lies To You. Interesting stuff, if your brain lets you digest it.

They found a 3 foot tall tablet in the Middle East, that contains writing that may (or may not) speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. That could rock a few boats. via The International Herald Tribune.